That feeling, that yearning, might be more profound than you realize. According to Kabbalistic thought, the very symbols and stories we use to understand the divine are tools designed to awaken our souls. They're not necessarily literal descriptions of GOD, but rather, pathways to connect with GOD.
The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam, in his preface to the Zohar, puts it this way: all these symbols, all these variations within the text, from beginning to end, serve the purpose of activating our souls. Yet, through GOD’s will, we often imagine we are seeing GOD directly. Why? To enhance our understanding, to fulfill GOD’s intention for creation: to bestow goodness upon us.
It’s a mind-bending concept, isn't it? That the language we use about the divine, even the images we conjure, are actually designed to stir something within us, to draw us closer. It's like a divine nudge.
Now, you might be thinking, "Wait a minute. Are you saying it's all just… in my head?" Well, consider this analogy that Baal HaSulam offers: think about how we see the world. We perceive this vast, wondrous reality before us. But what if I told you that everything you see is actually a projection, a representation within your own being?
Think about it. Our sense of sight, for instance. We see this huge, wide world, filled with incredible things. But in reality, all of that is happening inside of us. In the back of our brains, there's a sort of "photographic machine" depicting everything we see. It’s not the external world itself that we are experiencing directly.
Baal HaSulam suggests that GOD has placed within our brains a kind of "polished mirror" that inverts everything, making us perceive it as outside of ourselves, before our faces. It’s a fascinating idea.
Even though what we see "out there" might not be the ultimate reality, how grateful should we be for this incredible gift! This inner mirror allows us to perceive and understand the world with clarity, to measure and analyze, inside and out. Without it, our perception would be drastically limited. We wouldn’t be able to navigate the world as effectively.
So, what does this all mean for our understanding of the divine? Maybe the symbols and stories we use in Judaism, the narratives in the Zohar, are like that "polished mirror." They're not necessarily a perfect, literal representation of GOD, but they allow us to perceive something far greater than ourselves.
They allow us to connect with the divine in a way that we otherwise couldn't. As the Zohar itself suggests, and as many Kabbalists have explored, the divine manifests in countless ways, often veiled in symbols that are ripe for interpretation.
Perhaps the most important thing is the yearning for that connection, the willingness to look beyond the surface and seek the deeper meaning. Maybe the real magic isn't in understanding the symbols perfectly, but in allowing them to awaken something within us, to help us see the world, and ourselves, in a new light. And maybe, just maybe, that's exactly what GOD intended all along.